ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book. Psychotherapy demands adaptability and flexibility on the part of the therapist who may have to be prepared to work away from the security of their therapy. Psychotherapists have much to offer in the context of childcare legal proceedings in providing assessments, and intervention where there is therapeutic potential. The tasks of assessing the suitability of a child returning home, providing therapeutic intervention and family support, and identifying and addressing parent's underlying psychological problems, will be unfamiliar territory for the majority of statutory social workers. This is understandable as so few children are successfully returned to their parent's care for social workers to have had experience. It is highly likely in the circumstances that the majority of social workers, or indeed the social work systems as they are at present, will not be equipped to undertake specialist work of this kind.
